Best known for her role in the Peabody Award-winning TV show, Portlandia, Brownstein has a long career in music, including as a guitarist and vocalist for riot grrrl punk icons, Sleater-Kinney, as well as a music blogger for NPR and interviewer for The Believer magazine.

Below are Carrie Brownstein’s favorite books, available to purchase as a set or individually.

James Baldwin

Baldwin is one of my favorite writers and cultural critics. His work always feels both relevant and revelatory. This book-long essay on film and movie going is part memoir, part homage to cinema, and also an exploration of the ways corrosive ideas seep into the collective imagination.

Simon Winchester

One of my favorite history books. It's a story about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary and of an epistolary and academic friendship between two men, one of whom (unbeknownst to the other) was an inmate at an insane asylum.

Truman Capote

Maggie Nelson

One of my favorite books of the last few years. It's both a memoir and an ontological exploration. In some ways, this book is a life-changer in that it posits new spheres of both being and togetherness.

Most Popular Shelves

VISIT OUR BOOKSHOP

Newsletter

First Name

Last Name

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Grand lists is a curated arts site specializing in books and movies selected by 100 public figures and celebrities, ranging from designers, musicians, artists, actors, performers and directors, to politicians, novelists, scientists and athletes.